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Re: corporate archives



Bill wrote:
> It has even come to our attention here that certain firms
> have contacted the
> Company without the knowledge of the Archives, stating more
> or less that the
> Company should close down the existing program, because the
> firm can do it
> cheaper and better.
>
> Sometimes, we get no respect, I tell ya!

In my opinion that is unethical, rude, and unacceptable behaviour.
As a RM consultant the first thing I want to know about a potential client
is whether or not they have records professional on staff. If so I want to
meet them. I do not want to nor will I denigrate another peer in order to
gain business. I want your business and I want to work with you, not against
you.

Rant mode off

Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
Woodside Summit Group, Inc
Richmond, Virginia
Tel: 804-744-1247 extension 23
Fax: 804-744-4947
mailto:peter.kurilecz@woodsidesummitgroup.com



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jackson, Bill [mailto:Bill.Jackson@HARLEY-DAVIDSON.COM]
> Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2000 10:09 AM
> To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> Subject: Re: corporate archives
>
>
> I for one am heartened to see these postings advocating
> corporate in-house
> programs.  For a while, the professional literature, along with some
> speeches I was hearing at SAA and MAC, were challenging the notion.
>
> They ranged from suggestions that corporations close down the
> programs they
> had because the public archivists could manage the records
> better all the
> way up to open attacks on the competence of corporate archivists.
>
> It has even come to our attention here that certain firms
> have contacted the
> Company without the knowledge of the Archives, stating more
> or less that the
> Company should close down the existing program, because the
> firm can do it
> cheaper and better.
>
> Sometimes, we get no respect, I tell ya!
>
> Bill
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Daniel Sokolow [mailto:daniel_sokolow@MCGRAW-HILL.COM]
> Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2000 8:53 AM
> To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> Subject: corporate archives
>
>
> From: Daniel Sokolow@MCGRAW-HILL on 03/30/2000 09:52 AM
>
>
> To:   archives@listserv.muohio.edu
> cc:
> Subject:  corporate archives
>
> Ahem.
>
> Hello?
>
> Anybody out there?
>
> Just checking - I'm starting to feel a little ignored in this whole
> conversation.  I admit I haven't been following the whole
> discussion very
> carefully, but I got the sense from Richard's posting that the poor
> corporate
> archives will disappear if we ("the profession") don't take
> action.  May I
> point
> out, gently, that I am, officialy, a _CORPORATE_ archivist.
> That is, it is
> my
> official job to take care of the company's archives.  Many
> corporations are
> taking active steps to preserve their own history without
> asking for help
> from
> university archivists.
>
> I've been getting the impression that there's a bit of a gap
> (I'm being
> polite)
> between the corporate and the academic archivists, and I
> certainly get the
> sense
> that many academic archivists refuse to admit that a
> for-profit organization
> can
> have any interest or concern in their own histories or
> archives.  Those of
> us on
> this side of the fence can point out that some are taking
> steps.  And quite
> frankly, there's nothing wrong with working for a
> corporation.  The pay is
> often
> better, the system (occasionally) works more efficiently, and
> I for one -
> and I
> swore before I got this job I would never work in corporate
> America - am
> quite
> happy in my corporate job.  Sometimes the job sucks, but so does
> everybody's.
>
> I don't want to misinterpret Richard's comments, but
> certainly I don't think
> we
> need to sound a panic alarm about the influx of the evil
> corporations.  That
> academic chairs are all donated by corporations instead of
> protesters from
> the
> picket lines is a matter of money, and corporations have it.  What
> difference
> does it make anyway?  At least there's another academic
> opportunity, even if
> it
> was created by an evil corporation.  I suppose academic
> freedom is at risk,
> but
> anyone who thinks that's not the case in the rest of the
> university is just
> not
> paying attention.  Everyone makes compromises, ethical and otherwise,
> whether we
> admit it or not.
>
> A corporate archivist's job is the same as an academic's - manage and
> maintain
> the records of your institution.  The uses of the collection
> are different,
> the
> patrons are different, and the needs are different, but it's
> just a job the
> same
> as any other.  Good, competent archivists do their job
> properly whatever the
> setting - yes the pay sucks sometimes, yes the demands are
> unreasonable, but
> you
> do your job because that's what you get paid to do.
>
> DS
>
>
> Daniel Sokolow
> Corporate Archivist
> The McGraw-Hill Companies
> 1221 Avenue of the Americas
> New York, NY 10020
> daniel_sokolow@mcgraw-hill.com
>
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>
> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
>
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>
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>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>